<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>finding home by LiveLaughLovex</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23127151">finding home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex'>LiveLaughLovex</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Code (TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Future, Declarations Of Love, Developing Relationship, F/M, Post-Season/Series 01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:48:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,070</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23127151</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After an evening out with Maya and Nona, a sudden late-night epiphany lands Harper at Abe's door when the clock has nearly struck midnight.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>John "Abe" Abraham/Harper Li</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>finding home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The inspiration for the title comes from this quote by a poet known as r.d.: Falling for him wasn't falling it all. It was walking into a house and suddenly knowing you're home.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was nearly midnight when someone began repeatedly ringing Captain John Abraham’s doorbell. He was in bed, slipping slowly into unconsciousness while a mindless sitcom played in the background. He stayed put at first, hoping whoever was outside would eventually take the hint and head home. It quickly became obvious that wasn’t going to happen, though, and so he threw aside his blankets, climbed from the bed, and headed out into the hallway and toward the door, grumbling under his breath all the while.</p>
<p>When he opened the door, the very <em>last</em> person he expected to be standing on the other side of it was Harper Li. “Hi,” he greeted, confused. “Is something wrong?”</p>
<p>“Not… exactly,” she answered vaguely, not bothering to wait for an invitation before entering his apartment.</p>
<p>He stared after her with a raised brow, then closed the door behind them and trailed after her into the living room. “What do you mean, ‘not exactly?’” he questioned, growing slightly concerned as he watched her pace back and forth across his floor. “You were out with Maya and Nona tonight, weren’t you?” He waited for her nod before continuing. “Did something happen? Did somebody…” The very idea angered him, and he trailed off before starting once more. “Did something happen?” he asked again.</p>
<p>“No,” she rushed to assure him, shaking her head emphatically. “No, Abe, it wasn’t anything like that.”</p>
<p>He let out a breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding, nodding with relief as he sank into the sofa’s cushions. “Okay. Well, then, what is it?” he asked, still confused about what, exactly, had brought her to his doorstep in the middle of the night.</p>
<p>“I…” She paused in her pacing for a moment to stare at him, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she considered the question. “Do you remember when I first came to work at JAG, and you hated me?”</p>
<p>“I didn’t hate you,” he protested immediately. “You were just…”</p>
<p>“The boot,” she cut him off, shaking her head with a wry smile. “I know.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” he answered her previous question, “I remember when you started out. I’m not sure what that’s got to do with this conversation, but…”</p>
<p>“I think I’m in love with you,” she blurted before he could continue.</p>
<p>“…Okay,” he remarked after a moment, his mind reeling as he processed her proclamation. “And you realized this while thinking back on your first week, or…”</p>
<p>“No. Well, not exactly,” she corrected. “I realized it a long time ago. Do you remember Helmand Province?”</p>
<p>“Do I remember getting shot?” he returned drily. “Sure, I can vaguely recollect it. Why?”</p>
<p>“You were touch-and-go for a while there,” she informed him. “They weren’t sure you’d make it through the surgery. And I just…” She shook her head, shrugging self-consciously. “I realized I couldn’t imagine my world without you in it,” she finished several moments later. “I realized I didn’t <em>want</em> to imagine it. And that wasn’t – it wasn’t the first time I’d felt something like that. I mean, I had a ridiculous crush on you for months. That’s just… well, it’s the first time I realized those feelings were real.”</p>
<p>“You had a crush on me?” Abe repeated disbelievingly.</p>
<p>“Really?” Harper asked incredulously. “Of all the things I just said, <em>that’s</em> the one you choose to home in on?”</p>
<p>“No, of course not, I just…” He trailed off. “I just didn’t notice it, that’s all.”</p>
<p>“Well, that’s surprising, because it was obvious. And pathetic,” she added, laughing self-deprecatingly.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t pathetic,” he denied immediately. “Nothing about you ever has been or ever will be pathetic.”</p>
<p>“You don’t know it wasn’t pathetic,” she pointed out, smirking. “You didn’t even <em>notice</em> it.”</p>
<p>“Fair point,” he conceded. “Harper…”</p>
<p>“Look, if you don’t feel the same way, that’s fine,” she rushed to tell him. “In the morning, we can just chalk this up to me being drunk, or…”</p>
<p>“Are you?” Abe felt compelled to ask. “Drunk?”</p>
<p>“No,” she admitted quietly. “I was the designated driver.”</p>
<p>“Then saying that would be a lie,” he pointed out. “And completely unnecessary, too.”</p>
<p>“Abe…” Harper began, eyes wide and vulnerable. “What does that mean?”</p>
<p>“First day after you came back from Maine,” he began, standing from the sofa. “You were trying to tell me a story about one of the drills, how one of the guys had screwed up during it, but you kept laughing so hard it was impossible for you to finish it. The look on your face in that moment… it’s burned into my memory. <em>That</em> was the moment I realized I was in love with you.”<br/>
<br/>
“Well, yours is a lot less morbid than mine,” she complained lightly, the smile on her face brighter than he’d ever seen. “Also, if you’re messing with me, I’m never speaking to you again,” she warned just as he crossed the room to her. “I don’t care if we have to make Maya our official go-between, I will seriously…” She trailed off as he pulled her gently into his arms, his lips pressed against her forehead.</p>
<p>“Harper,” he murmured against her skin, smiling at her sharp inhale, “I’m not messing with you.”</p>
<p>“That’s good,” she murmured, smiling brilliantly as her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Because I’d really hate never talking to you again.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I’d really hate that too,” he agreed softly. “I’d be bored out of my mind at the office; I might be driven to start a mutiny or something.”</p>
<p>“Please don’t,” Harper pleaded laughingly. “I guess I’ll <em>never</em> be able to stop talking to you, then, because it’ll apparently turn you into a felon.”</p>
<p>“Good,” he chuckled, tugging her a bit closer.</p>
<p>“Have I just given into your master plan?” she questioned wryly, grinning up at him as he pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. “To make sure I never stop speaking to you?”</p>
<p>“Absolutely,” he confirmed without hesitation. “Hey,” he began once their laughter had died down, staring at her with bright eyes as he attempted to memorize every detail of her face in that instant. “I love you,” he said simply.</p>
<p>“I love you too,” she breathed, smiling against his lips as they met hers.</p>
<p>And standing there, in the middle of his living room at nearly one o’clock in the morning, they both felt more alive and whole and just <em>right</em> than they had in a very long time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I will most likely write the aforementioned scenes when they realize they're in love with each other, too, because they're just such adorable, emotionally-constipated, lovesick dorks.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>